Norton AntiVirus 2011 - first impressions

If you know me, I've been a faithful Norton AntiVirus (NAV) user for quite a long time. I wasn't particularly crazy over NAV a few years back, but in recent years, NAV has dramatically improved and today, it is, IMHO, one of the best antivirus solutions out there.

As part of my subscription, Norton offered me a free upgrade to the latest 2011 version. I installed it without hesitation, and I'm bursting with excitement to share my first impressions with you, because good has become even better.

Firstly, installation was lightning fast - super easy and fuss-free. After a reboot and an activation screen, NAV is setup and ready to use.

Norton AntiVirus 2011 main screen

This is the home interface for NAV 2011. I think it's comprehensive without being too intimidating. New in this version is a map which shows worldwide cyber crime activity for the past 24 hours. Cool. Only gripe with this new UI is that the system status at the top could be more prominent.

NAV sidebar gadget (top)

Norton also provides a sidebar gadget for Windows, which shows you at a glance your system status, and provides two buttons below - one to launch NAV with the Activity Map, and the other with Norton's online backup.

Performance

NAV, back in the XP-era, always had a reputation of being big, intrusive, bloated and a memory hog.  But with this version, I can confidently say it's far from that.  NAV 2011 is a full-featured antivirus software which doesn't compromise on performance.  It is blazing fast, lightweight, and doesn't slow down your system.  Everything feels snappy.  LiveUpdate works fast, the main screen is almost instant start-up, and scan times are the BEST I've seen from any security software.  Doing a quickscan (after running Norton Insight once) only took me 15 seconds.  Mind-blowing!

NAV's performance screen - allows you to see how much resources its sapping up

Security

I don't have scientific test results to convince you, but I'd say that Norton AntiVirus is very effective, both in protecting you from threats and removing them.  Ever since I've used Norton, not a single threat went unnoticed - even those minor tracing cookies gets picked up in scans.  And ever since I've used Norton, my computer has not been infected with any malware.  That's all I can say - it is pretty darn good.  Provided, of course, you update virus definitions.

Norton Facebook wall scan

New in this version are also two new type of scans you could perform - one is a reputation scan (checks the trust level, age and prevalence of programs and processes on your computer) and the other one - now this is interesting - is a Facebook wall scan, which scans your facebook wall for potentially dangerous website links.  Very innovative. 


Customisation

Settings panel

At first look, the settings panel is intimidating.  There's so many things for the user to tweak, so many options and settings.  The one I'd recommend to adjust is to turn on Microsoft Office Auto Scan.  You could slowly ploy through the other options and adjust them as you please.  If not, the defaults are fine.

Norton Insight

Norton Insight

So how does Norton accomplish it? A full-featured solution without the bulk and the heft? It's every security company's dream right? This is where the intelligence lies - Norton Insight.  What Insight does is to scan your computer processes against Norton's list of safe processes.  Once it has been trusted by Norton, any subsequent computer scans performed will skip through scanning those processes, thus achieving quick scan-times.  Very smart, and works extremely well.

Conclusion

This is just my first impressions of NAV.  If you're the kinda guy who will only be convinced by charts, graphs and numbers, Google for another review.  But if you're a normal home-user like me, and you're looking for a standard anti-virus software for PC protection, hands-down, I'd recommend Norton AntiVirus 2011.  It is excellent in almost every aspect. 

If money's an issue though, you could also consider the free and excellent Microsoft Security Essentials.  It's good, but not quite up-to-par with Norton.

Microsoft Security Essentials review: good enough?

When Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) first launched, I wrote a post about how this could spell doom for security software companies like Norton, but I also expressed my apprehension about free anti-virus software. I mean, Microsoft states it clearly that it is essentials. So is this a good enough anti-malware solution for home users?

I've been using MSE as my sole anti-virus software for three months now on two Windows laptops. One is running Vista business, the other is a netbook with 7 Starter. Before that, I was using Norton products, but when my subscription expired, I figured out that renewing was costly and so decided to give MSE a chance. (By the way, I'm still a big Norton fan.)

So can MSE replace Norton Anti-virus?

If you don't want to read through the rest, the short and simple answer is YES.

MSE indeed lives up to its promise of being a lightweight, hassle-free, top-notch anti-malware software. I don't know if this brings you any assurance, but at least I felt more secure knowing that MSE is based on the same protection technologies as Microsoft Forefront.

Microsoft Security Essentials main console

The installation was fuss-free and quick. Once installed, Windows Defender gets disabled, which is only natural since MSE is a superset of Defender. MSE's user interface is spartan, but extremely clear and well-organised. At one look you'll know if your system is healthy or not. Green means good, red means bad, yellow means at risk... couldn't be more straightforward.

Virus definition updating takes place either within the MSE console, or via Windows Update. You can update manually, or MSE will do it automatically in the background. There are new definitions released daily. It is really unobtrusive - no funny pop-up messages and what not - it just works.

Now the big question on every user's mind: is MSE effective in malware protection?

This I can't speak with authority, because everyone's mileage will vary. But I will say this: if you're a cautious user like me, then MSE is sufficient to keep you protected real-time from all the threats like worms, viruses, spyware, trojans etc.

Of course this gets tricky because 'cautious' is subjective and hard to define. What I mean by cautious includes not surfing dangerous websites, scanning files on download, running only programs you trust, scanning removable media before opening, doing weekly scans and so forth. If you're a careful computer user, and you don't intentionally do stuff that could harm your system, then MSE will keep you safe. But if you purposely visit malicious sites, install suspicious software, then I can't say with certainty MSE will protect you because I haven't been in that situation before.

All I can say is that in the three months, I have had zero virus attacks/infections using MSE as my only anti-virus. So to me, MSE is as good as Norton in protecting me from threats. Just today I plugged my friend's infected thumb drive into my computer, and immediately, MSE alerted me about the trojan before it even opened the contents. So from that one experience I can say real-time protection does work.

But surely MSE isn't perfect. There are areas which I felt could improve. Firstly, the scan times are quite long. I'm used to the super-quick quick scans from Norton products, so in comparison MSE's quick scan is noticeably longer. Also, full system scans may take anywhere between 1-2 hours depending your computer. It's a really long wait.

So to conclude, if you can't afford or don't want to pay for Norton anti-virus or similar products, I can safely recommend MSE to you and I'm sure it will keep your system safe and running. But of course if money is no issue then go get Norton, because Norton does have a few advantages and extra features. The real question is if these extras (like Norton file insight etc) are worth the money. That's only for you to decide. My advice is to first try out MSE, and if it isn't good enough then buy Norton. If it is, and for most people it will be, then keep on using MSE because it never expires!

It's hard to come across such good software. Microsoft has got anti-virus right. It's free, small, light and good. I never thought this day would come.

Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0 thoughts

[Note: I have not installed MSE yet, it is not available in my country. All opinions are based on information online.]

So Microsoft has just launched it's new Microsoft Security Essentials v1.0 software (MSE abbreviated). MSE is basically a free, lightweight and effective anti-virus software that can be installed on XP, Vista and 7 systems which have been validated as genuine copies. Remember that Microsoft used to sell it's OneCare product? Well, MSE replaces OneCare. It is essentially OneCare, minus all the extra PC tune-up and backup stuff, i.e. MSE is just supposed to tackle viruses and spyware. It is built on the same foundation as OneCare.

MSE is a very interesting product, for if it really takes off, it could spell doom for the big-time security companies, namely Symantec (Norton) and McAfee. I mean, think about it: we're talking about a no cost, lightweight, hassle-free security solution which claims to provide very effective security for a worry-free PC experience. Microsoft says it gives the same level of protection as Microsoft's Forefront product for businesses. That's what many consumers want, isn't it? We all like to install our AV, then forget about it and let it take care of itself.

But that's where my worry is. Maybe it's just a human thing, but I do not feel secure when something is this good. When you download an installer that is less than 10MB and when something as important as an AV takes up so little computing resources, I just have that feeling that it's not good enough, that it only offers basic protection and is not as intensive as Norton, with all their complex detection technologies. So I'm not sure if I would trust MSE to protect my PC from all sorts of threats online; I guess only time will tell if MSE can be a replacement for Norton when it comes to solid PC protection. I'm a big fan of Norton Internet Security 09, because their protection is top-notch, and I always feel secure online. But with the simple UI of MSE and little options or settings, I just feel that it is inadequate.

So in conclusion, for the informed IT user who likes to muddle with settings and options, maybe MSE is not for you. I guess MSE is targeted at that ignorant user who knows nuts about anti-virus software but still want to stay secure. Also, it is catered towards developing countries where users do not want to fork out extra buck for security software. But I would assert that there is one last target audience: the netbook users. Yes, because MSE is so feather-light, it is an ideal AV solution on low-powered netbooks. But then again the whole question of 'is it good enough protection' arises. Only time will tell, but with this first release, the situation looks positive. Tests reveal that MSE is indeed quite effective... if I can trust MSE, then I will not renew my Norton subscription when it expires.

Internet Explorer 8 screenshots

ACR / DNG converter update

HOORAY!! The folks over at Adobe has finally updated Camera Raw to version 5.2, supporting 7 new camera models, including the Panasonic Lumix LX3!

Finally, I will be able to shoot RAW on my LX3 and process the files in my preferred raw converter! ACR 5.2 is a free update available immediately at Adobe's website.

This plug-in for Photoshop adds RAW support to these following camera models too: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon PowerShot G10, Panasonic DMC-G1, Panasonic DMC-FX150, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Panasonic DMC-LX3 and Leica D-LUX 4.

Update (29 Nov 08): ACR 5.2 will ONLY work with Photoshop CS4 and NOT older versions of CS. The latest version of ACR is 4.6 for CS3.

IE 8 beta 2 compatibility

The upcoming version of Internet Explorer, IE 8, is now in public beta and can be downloaded from Microsoft's website to test out.

There are a ton of new features in this browser, and some are very useful, such as the Smart Address Bar and Tab Groups.

Microsoft explains that 'the Smart Address Bar in Internet Explorer 8 matches what a user types in the Address Bar with titles in the history as well as content in their favorites and feeds, making it easier to locate sites the user wants to visit.'

Tab Groups is a superb way to keep organised automatically: 'When one tab is opened from another, the new tab is placed next to the originating tab, and both are marked with a colored tab, so users can quickly discern which tabs have related content.'

Despite all these cool stuff, the big deal to me is that Microsoft promises IE 8 to be more standards compliant by default. This is normally thought of as a good thing, since the browser now adheres to web standards and thus is more compatible, but apparently this isn't the case.

With beta 2, users are reporting more compatibility problems viewing websites than with IE 7. Many websites will not render properly in IE 8 (such as Gmail), with misalignments and stuff which messes up the page. To solve this, supposedly, you can click on the 'compatibility view' button up next to the address bar to display the website as viewed in IE 7, which will correct display problems like misaligned text, images, or text boxes. This option is on a per site basis and all other sites will continue to display with IE 8 functionality. But even in this view, there are still bugs present and rendering mistakes!

This is very disconcerting to me, that the latest version of a browser is less compatible than the previous version. I really hope Microsoft figures everything out by the final release, and if need be, throw out a beta 3.

We all wanted standards compliant, and now that it is more standards compliant, is this really what we desire? I don't really know why being standards compliant ends up being less compatible, but my guess is that developers tend to put in IE specific code in their websites that doesn't run well in IE 8's default standards compliant mode.

This is so important for Microsoft... compatibility is one of the key fundamentals of any good browser. If it doesn't work right with sites, then people won't want to use it, no matter how many superb features it offers. Either web developers have to start getting rid of IE specific code in time for the final release... or Microsoft has to work some magic to make everything render right. I believe they will do so, but for now, this product is kinda half-usable and non-technical users should hold up downloading this first.

The must-get free App Store game: Cube Runner!

I'm not the sort of person who would actually recommend playing a game, but for perhaps once in my life, this game is worth checking out. It's called Cube Runner, a free download from the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch version 2.0. Simple, fun, challenging and has much replay value!

The video below shows you what the game is all about:



As you can see, the App Store has transformed the iPod touch into more than just a multimedia player. Increasingly, it is becoming a viable gaming platform too, with it's unique combination of accelerometer and touch-screen interface.

More iPod touch 2.0 screenshots

1) The lyrics function: (To add lyrics in iTunes, right click on track, select 'Get Info' and edit 'Lyrics')


2) Google maps, which is way cool! You can view it in 'satellite' mode as shown, or 'map' mode, and using Wi-Fi triangulation technologies, maps is smart enough to detect my location (my house in Hougang) as pictured below. However, one disadvantage (more so on the iPhone 3G with GPS) is the lack of turn-by-turn navigation.


3) Scientific calculator (when iPod is turned to landscape mode):


4) Tap Tap Revenge is THE best free game app available as of now on the app store. A simple music tapping game, very well executed with wonderful graphics, supports awesome double player mode, has a vast range of difficulty levels and allows you to download additional tracks. However, it's a bit buggy at times... but still fantastic play! (No. 9 top free app on the app store now)


Will continue to post more Software 2.0 reviews in the coming days!

Internet Explorer 8 privacy features

Hmm... haven't posted on Microsoft stuff for some time. IE 8 is currently in development and recently the team announced an interesting feature regarding user privacy. This is THE single feature in IE which I so longed for, and I'm glad it's here.

Remember how Apple's Safari web browser has a "private browsing" feature which keeps online activities private (e.g. not saving history), and how Firefox has a "delete private data" option which rids the browser of stored data? I use these features frequently. Soon, IE 8 will finally include a similar feature, or rather, a similar set of features.

InPrivate browsing (what a nice name for private browsing) is a mode which lets you control whether or not IE saves your browsing history, cookies, and other data. Delete browsing history simply deletes traces of your browsing activities. InPrivate Blocking informs you about content that is in a position to observe your browsing history, and allows you to block it, while InPrivate Subscriptions allow you to control the list of sites which InPrivate Blocking blocks or allows.

I think such privacy features, though not new, are very useful in certain situations. For example, for public computers in school where leaving your digital footprint behind for another user to view may be unwanted, or when you use your friend's computer. Yet there are times when you're just casually surfing and don't require the browser to keep traces of your activities. This is also good when you want to clear your browser of all tracking cookies or clean up the history list... at least it can be done in a single click which is more convenient. I'm looking forward to IE 8, and let's hope Microsoft implements this properly.

iPod touch is the ultimate iTunes remote control

Today I tested out the remote control third-party application which allows my iPod touch (or iPhone) to remotely control my computer's iTunes library via Wi-Fi. With that, I can play, pause, fast forward and rewind tracks from anywhere around my house.

Here's a video of how it looks like:



However, do note that in order for the pairing to be successful, you need to disable your firewall (for both Mac and PC). Once paired, the performance is rather snappy and is very full-featured, assuming a reasonably fast connection speed. You can even play video files remotely, browse playlists and search for content on your computer.

As a free download from the App Store, this is highly recommended, and you can trust that it's stable as it's written by Apple.

Software update 2.0: The feeling of a new iPod touch

I'm so excited about the iPhone/iPod touch software update 2.0 that I don't quite know where to begin. Ok, I created an iTunes account today (yes it's now in Singapore exclusively for iPod touch/iPhone owners), paid 10 bucks and downloaded the 2.0.2 update for my 16GB iPod touch, previously running 1.1.5.

After a long-drawn and somewhat frightening update process which lasted about an hour, I finally have third-party apps! The initial feeling is beyond description... it's like having a completely new iPod! The improvements are SO significant from 1.1.5 and I think every iPod touch user MUST buy this update.

I'll be playing around with this "new" device and will post more stuff in the coming days. But for now, here's what impressed me:

The first thing was the third party apps. I was surprised at how easy it is to install and run them. They really add functionality to your iPod, and lots of fun too. I recommend trying out "Tap Tap", a free music game, and the Remote Control application which can control your iTunes library. Second, the ability to capture screenshots (.PNG) to transfer to your computer. Third, lyrics on the iPod. This may sound trivial, but it means a lot to me since I've been using it on my old iPod nano. Fourth, the apps from the January software update, which includes mail, notes, stocks, maps, weather. This also includes the customisable home screen and web clip.

All in all, this is a very affordable upgrade, and gives your otherwise bland iPod home screen a fresh new look. A word of caution though, the update process is quite time consuming, albeit automated. The restoring of music and videos took the longest time for me. I also noticed that with new applications, the iPod seems slightly more laggy. Well, after I get over the reality distortion field, I'll review this update proper :)

Vista reliability monitor: all time high!

Check this out! The reliability score of my Vista system is at an all time high of 9.96! Almost perfect score if I keep this up for a few days more... hmm wonder if it will ever hit 10.00? :P


Well, for those who don't know what I'm referring to, Windows Vista has this application 'Reliability and Performance Monitor' which will keep track of how healthy your system is based on performance counters, event trace data and configuration information. It also considers errors such as application failures, hardware failures etc.

When you first install Vista, the score is a perfect 10, then depending on how many subsequent errors there are, the score fluctuates. A long period of healthy performance would give you a higher score and vice versa... it's one of those cool things in Vista that's just plain fun to look at. Btw, I don't know anyone with as high a score as mine!

Update (16 Aug): My reliability index has hit 10.00!

PS CS3!

I'm so happy! Have been waiting so long for this day to come...just installed Photoshop CS3 (aka version 10) on my old HP desktop! And thanks once again to Kelvin!

Previously, I've been using the ancient PS version 7 on my PC, which is pathetic as it lacked all the new features, such as highlights and shadows adjustment, some filter effects, and blah blah blah. Not to mention that since it's an ahem version, I can't update the Camera Raw plug-in to support CR2 RAW files from my 400D.

But now with CS3, I can finally open my RAW files in Photoshop, and I think this will give me one more very good reason to shoot in RAW. Through Circa, I've finally understood what's so great about RAW. Oh, and the RAW converter in CS3 has more features than previous versions!

Along with PS came Bridge CS3, another fantastically useful software for photo management! Hooray! Now I have CS3 running alongside Photoshop 7 on my PC! (Still hunting for CS3 for Mac...)

Anyone knows where to kope the Mac version? I'll be needing it for new iMac soon...